It’s been months that I have been planing on making these cookies. It all started after I had Thini cookies at Sugar-Daddy in Tel Aviv earlier this year. I was talking about making these cookies for so long that it seemed like it wasn’t going to happen.
After looking up recipes online and in my cookbook collection and not coming up with anything that seemed promising, I tried to improvise… The first batch of cookies was too hard, so I added some butter and replaced a 1/3 of the spelt flour with almond meal. And here you go, a winner recipe, the cookies came out tasty and crumbly, perfect served with tea or on their own. So good!
Thini is basically ground up sesame seeds and Silan is a date syrup, the combination of these two flavors is unreal.
First thing is making sure you are using high quality Thini paste, I prefer Thini that comes from the middle east, it just seems to be better than any local brand I tried. The Silan should be as natural as possible, and without preservatives.
1/2 cup raw Thini paste
1/2 cup date syrup
8 tablespoon of butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 cup flour, I used spelt and almond meal, 1 cup spelt and 1/2 almond.
1/4 cup chopped pistachio
cinnamon, cardamon, vanilla and a pinch of salt

Pre-heat the oven to 355 (180 Celsius)
Start by placing the thini and butter in a sauce pan over low heat, mix until well combined.
In a large bowl mix the thini-butter paste with the silan, chopped pistachios, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a few drops of vanilla extract, 1/2-1 teaspoon of ground cardamon and the salt.
Slowly add the flour and mix by hand until a soft dough is formed.
Using your hands, form small balls and place on a baking pan, since the dough is soft the cookies will spread, so make sure they are spread out.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until slightly brown and take out. Let cool before trying to move the cookies or they will fall apart.
The cookies are extremely soft at first but they will harden as they cool down.

Its bone marrow time!
About a year and a half ago, just a few days before I started working at The Breslin, I had dinner there with my father. Both of us ordered the bone marrow onion soup. neither of us was overly impressed and then he made a promise, that in due time he will teach me how to make what he was calling “real bone marrow”. The time has finally arrived, and for my farewell meal he shared with me his bone marrow roasting recipe.
Bone marrow is something I was avoiding for years, for obvious reasons, I like to Believe. It’s fatty content always seemed unappealing to me. Then when I finally had some, I wished I have done so years earlier.
When roasted correctly, bone marrow is the perfect companion for a nice slice of bread, scooped out and spread on a toast. finger licking worthy.

Starting by pre-heating your oven to a medium-high heat, place the bones in a baking dish, marrow part up, and sprinkle some sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and paprika.

place them in the oven for about 20 minutes, watching closely to ensure they aren’t going over and melting into oil.
You know they are ready when the bone is nicely colored and the marrow looks like it starting to char.

My father is an amazing cook, he’s been a culinary inspiration to me for years. His cooking skills always amazed me, he taught me some tricks that are the direct result of him being an inventor and is the only person who I allow alluring me into eating foods I wouldn’t dare considering.
One of my favorite food games is asking him for one of his recipes. The ritual, is, with slight circumstantial changes, the same every time. It usually takes place over the dinner table, as I am wolfing on one of his delicious creations, I then, with a mouth full of food, ask him for the ingredients and he refuses to tell me what it is that was happening in his pots. then I ask again, and he, once more, says no. Then I give it a few minutes, just staring at him with anticipation. I can tell I’m getting close to breaking him down and so I ask once more. Usually that’s where he tells me what he did and how, unfortunately I can rarely duplicate it.
Last weekend was a whole different story though. I came home to spend the weekend with my family and had the extreme pleasure of watching him in action. We are so far away from each other, that those moments are truly rare and fill me up with joy.
He was slicing beef fillet to about a 1/4 inch thick slices, then in a mortar he made a paste from Rosemary, sea salt, pepper and olive oil. The meat was then rubbed with the paste and set aside.

A heavy grilling pan was then wrapped in foil to avoid a ridiculously dirty stove top and the searing began. The meat goes in for a quick minute or two, on both sides and then comes out. Once all the meat is done he starts the sauce.

Now you might ask yourself why am I about to give out a recipe of a man who so strictly protects them, here’s why:
3 months ago, just as I returned home, my father made this very same dish, he asked that I’ll go get Moscato, and I did, only I got the bubbly version… He made it anyways, using the bubbly wine instead and that would have been it if it wasn’t for the next time he decided to make it, this time using the wine he initially planned on using, the sauce came out different, something was missing, those bubbles did something to the flavor that didn’t come through using the flat wine. Ha, what an incredible turn out to my little mistake!
And so now I claim this recipe to be partially mine, and therefor can share it with the world.
(also, i asked and he said it’s fine…)

Back to the sauce now, on the same cast iron pan he used to sear the meat he now pours the wine, let it release all the flavors and adds butter, cream and lots of black pepper, if salt is needed it will be added a well. The meat goes back in for a quick second and then served.

Amy B was here this weekend for a very short minute, and that was a great reason to cook and celebrate. On Sunday as a part of our way to convince Roi to come and help us with an ongoing bathroom renovation, and since Amy was in town, I cooked an elaborate brunch featuring these little cheesy puffs, called gougères, savory cheesy pastry puffs. oh my, they are so delicious.
Being the gruyere lover that I am its sorta hard to be objective about any food that has this fantastic swiss work of art in it, but pairing these little yummies with some poached eggs was simply delightful, and it didn’t require too much work either (it is rare for me to go for recipes that do…).
It doesn’t require using a mixer, nor it won’t break your hand mixing it.

pre-heat oven to 425°F (220° C), line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
in a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the butter, salt, white pepper, cayenne, and 1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) water and bring to a boil. cook, stirring, until the butter melts, 3-4 minutes. Add the flour and, using a wooden spoon, mix vigorously until a thick paste forms and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 3 minutes.
remove from heat. break 1 egg into the pan, using the wooden spoon, beat it into the batter until combined. repeat with additional 2 eggs. whisk in 1 cup (4 oz/125 g) of the cheese.

dip a teaspoon into a glass of cold water, then scoop up a generous teaspoonful of the batter and push it onto the prepares baking sheet with a fingertip. repeat with the remaining batter, spacing them 2 inches (5 cm) apart and dipping the spoon each time to prevent sticking. brush the tops off with an egg and sprinkle with the remaining of the cheese.

bake for 10 minutes, reduce oven temp to 350°F (180° C) and bake until golden and crisp, about 15 minutes. remove from the oven, pierce each one with a wooden skewer, and then return to the oven. turn off oven and leave the gougères in the oven for 10 minutes. serve at room temperature

A few days ago as we were eating some cherry pie, Tacuma asked: “when are you gonna make some cherry pie?”
when cherries are in season, I said, thinking it won’t be before summer, two days later while walking through Chinatown I saw a women selling cherries, and though I usually prefer using produce in its peak season I couldn’t resist and bought 2lbs of tart cherries.

Looking for a good cherry pie recipe I learned about Clafoutis. Clafoutis is a custard that is made from cream, flour, eggs, spices and cherries. Being the custard lover that I am and with Nitzan alongside me salivating over the pictures in the book, we decided to go for it. since I had already thawed some crust dough I had saved from my last pie, I decided to add it to the mix. Could have done just fine without it, and most likely will next time, but it was still delicious.
You start with pitting the cherries, a task that is a bit tedious, but in my opinion has to be done. According to this french cook book, traditionally you leave the pits in, that’s fine as long as you make sure you warn your guests before they start eating.
Since we ate many of them in the process of cleaning we ended up with one pound of pitted cherries. Just enough. place the cherries in a baking dish, including any juice that is left after cleaning them.pre-heat oven to 375°F (180°C)
In a bowl whisk together 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until well mixed and slightly stiff. add 3.5 oz (100 gr) of almond meal, 2 tablespoons of AP flour, 2 cups of cream or half and half, cinnamon and vanilla extract to taste and mix well.
Pour mixture over the cherries, and into the oven it goes…

After about 40-45 minutes poke the center and check if the custard is set, continue cooking until nicely golden on top, if the center is still a little soft don’t worry, it will set as it cools down.

I learned this one from Jules, shortly after he had learned it from Matt and Kayla. This delicious variation of a french toast is simple and doesn’t require frying, it’s perfect if you are having some friends over for brunch.

You will need:
1 loaf of challah bread, sliced the night before and left out or lightly toasted in the oven – this step is important to help the bread soak up as much liquid as possible.
4-5 eggs, scrambled
2-3 cups of milk
1 pint of blueberries
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp cardamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
powdered sugar for dusting
maple syrup

baking dish, buttered

pre-heat oven to 400°
in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and spices, cut the bread into pieces and soak in liquid, mix it with your hands to insure the bread is completely soaked.
Mix in the blueberries, I like to use a lot of berries, about 3/4 of a pint.
transfer the mixture into a baking dish, fluff it with your fingers and sprinkle a few more berries on top.
place in the oven for about 30 minutes, covered, then remove cover and bake for 10 minutes more or until lightly golden in color. finish with some powdered sugar.

I promised Debbie about a month ago that I will make some lentil soup and put the recipe up, but this entire time I just wasn’t inspired to cook any lentils, then I saw these green french lentils at the coop and knew that today is the day.

Like other legumes, lentils are low in fat and high in protein and fiber, but they have the added advantage of cooking quickly and they don’t require any soaking.
Green lentils are usually the ones I go for, the french ones are more delicate and take longer to cook. all lentils should be rinsed and picked through for stones before cooking. Oh, and by the way, they will take longer to cook if they are combined with salt or acidic ingredients, so add these last.

start by sweating the onion, carrot, celery and turnip in 2 tablespoons of oil, add black pepper and a pinch of salt just to get some liquid out of the veggies, add garlic, potato and lentils. Add liquid, cumin, paprika and a bay leaf. bring to a boil and lower to simmer. cook for 40 minutes to an hour, depending on the lentils you are using. Keep checking that there is enough liquid in the pot, the lentils soak up a lot of liquid as they cook and the soup will slowly turn thicker, its up to you to decide how thick you want it to be. Taste a few lentils after the first 40 minutes and see if they are completely cooked and soft, make any adjusting to the flavor if needed, if the lentils are ready add the lemon juice, salt and the chopped tomato, cook for 5-10 more minutes discard the bay leaf and serve, garnished with chopped parsley.